DATE: Sunday, April 20, 1997                TAG: 9704180074

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E12  EDITION: FINAL 
TYPE: Opinion

SOURCE: BY CRAIG SHAPIRO, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   62 lines

CAN REGION SUPPORT ARTS FESTIVAL?

THERE IS A WORLD of difference between ``can'' and ``will.''

Can Hampton Roads support the Virginia Waterfront International Arts Festival?

Will Hampton Roads support the Virginia Waterfront International Arts Festival?

Answering the first question is easy.

The success of the Virginia Symphony, Virginia Opera and Virginia Stage Company; the popularity of The Chrysler Museum of Art, the Contemporary Art Center of Virginia and the Peninsula Fine Arts Center; the fact that institutions and groups of all sizes reach audiences of all sizes - all testify to the region's appetite for the arts.

No. 2 will take longer. The festival begins Thursday at 6 p.m. with opening ceremonies outside at Nauticus and concludes the evening of May 11 with a 7:30 performance by pianist/funnyman Victor Borge.

Riding on the answer is an investment of $1.9 million, not to mention the investment of time and energy by director Robert W. Cross, his shoestring staff and a volunteer corps of true believers.

There's also a third, larger, question on the table:

Should Hampton Roads support the Virginia Waterfront International Arts Festival?

Without a doubt.

Last winter, when the Rhinos were courting the National Hockey League, one of the more crass television ads postulated that having professional sports in Hampton Roads would mean more RESPECT. Snap! Just like that. The quick-fix implication of that P.T. Barnum-esque campaign was insulting and shortsighted.

No knock at pro sports, but respect is earned, not purchased. Perception goes even deeper.

The pulse of a community, a region, is only as healthy as its commitment to the arts. Andre-Michel Schub, the award-winning pianist who is coordinating the festival's chamber music series, said as much in a recent interview.

Director Cross, a 16-year member of the Virginia Symphony, was fully aware of the big picture when he started planning nearly two years ago.

He found corporate support; he recruited a world-class roster of performers; he booked venues from Williamsburg to Virginia Beach; and, most importantly, he involved Hampton Roads' arts community.

Cross points to Spoleto Festival U.S.A. While it thrives, it has done so without the participation of arts groups in Charleston, S.C. More than two decades later, the sting is still felt.

With all the pieces in place, Cross likes the odds. He's already looking to 1998.

``Now, when I call an agent to start negotiating, I don't have to spend the first 10 minutes explaining the festival,'' he said. ``They know. We're on the map. We're a living, breathing thing.

``The part that's still challenging is we're a new organization, and we want to start forming an independent, artistic identity for the festival so people know what to expect. That's hard to do until we know what works.

``I'm very pleased with our artistic level, but it's not like I had 100 percent control. I'm at the mercy of who's touring. The Edinburgh Festival (in Scotland) decides who's going to tour by who they invite. We're not big enough where we can drive tours.''

Not yet. KEYWORDS: THE VIRGINIA WATERFRONT INTERNATIONAL ARTS FESTIVAL

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